Vaccine Against Hepatitis B
What is the treatment for hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B is usually not treated unless it becomes chronic.
Hepatitis B infection is treated with drugs that slow or stop the virus that causes damage to the liver. The duration of treatment varies. Your doctor will help you decide what type of drugs or drug combinations are best for you and monitor your symptoms carefully to ensure that treatment is working.
The medications that are applied by injection include
* Interferon
* Peg interferon
The medications taken by mouth include
* Lamivudine
* Telbivudine
* Advil
* Entecavir
You may need a liver transplant if the cause chronic hepatitis B liver failure. Liver transplantation replaces a diseased liver with a healthy liver from a donor. The drugs taken after surgery help the disease not return.
[Top]
How can you prevent hepatitis B?
You can prevent hepatitis B by getting vaccinated against hepatitis B.
Vaccines are medicines that prevent disease. Vaccines teach your body to attack specific germs. The hepatitis B vaccine teaches the body to attack the virus of hepatitis B.
Adults at higher risk of contracting hepatitis B and all children should receive the vaccine. The hepatitis B vaccine is given as three injections within a period of several months. You can administer the vaccine at any age.
Illustration of a health care provider to provide a vaccine against hepatitis B in the upper arm of a patient.
Vaccines prevent you from getting the hepatitis B
The second injection should be administered at least 1 month after the first injection, and the last injection should be administered at least 2 months after the second injection but not before four months of the first injection. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe for pregnant women.
Need the three injections to be fully protected. If you plan to travel to countries where hepatitis B is common, try to get three shots before your trip. If you do not have time to get all the shots before traveling, try to be given as much as possible. An injection can provide some protection against the virus.
You can also protect yourself and protect others against hepatitis B if
* Use a condom when having sex
* Does not share with anyone needles to inject drugs
* Wear gloves if you have to touch another person’s blood
* Do not use the toothbrush, shaver from an infected person or any other object that might have blood
* Ensure that any tattoo or piercing a body part is done with sterile tools
* Do not donate blood or blood products if you have hepatitis B